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Physics

Prospects Dim for Low-carbon Nuclear Industry, EPP Researchers SayIn a new paper, former and current researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Engineering and Public Policy say nuclear power will probably not make a significant contribution to decarbonizing the U.S. energy system over the next three or four decades.

Physics - 23.07.2018

Reprogrammable BrailleWhen Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was translated into Braille, it spanned 1,000 pages over 14 volumes of thick Braille paper.

Eagle-eyed machine learning algorithm outdoes human expertsArtificial intelligence is now so smart that silicon brains frequently outthink people. Computers operate self-driving cars, pick friends' faces out of photos on Facebook, and are learning to take on jobs typically entrusted only to human experts. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have trained computers to quickly and consistently detect and analyze microscopic radiation damage to materials under consideration for nuclear reactors.

Physics - Innovation / Technology - 19.07.2018

Ravi Prasher Named Berkeley Lab’s Associate Director for Energy TechnologiesRavi Prasher has been appointed Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Technologies at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The announcement follows an international search. Prasher, an internationally renowned scientist in the field of thermal energy science and technologies, has been director of Berkeley Lab's Energy Storage and Distributed Resources (ESDR) Division since 2015, where he has led the Lab's research on batteries, fuel cells, and grid modernization.

Astronomy / Space Science - Physics - 16.07.2018

Every point is a galaxyAt first glance this frame is flooded with salt-and-pepper static - but don't adjust your set! Rather than being tiny grains or pixels of TV noise, every single point of light in this image is actually a distant galaxy as observed by ESA's Herschel Space Observatory. Each of these minute marks represents the 'heat' emanating from dust grains lying between the stars of each galaxy.

MeerKAT telescope unveiled in South AfricaData gained from a giant telescope in South Africa will help to shape our understanding of the universe and how stars and galaxies are formed. MeerKAT consists of 64 interconnected dishes, each 13.5m in diameter, that together form a single radio telescope. MeerKAT is an impressive South African achievement, assisted by a cohort of international scientists, including researchers from Oxford University and the Africa Oxford Initiative.

Physics - Chemistry - 13.07.2018

Molecular clock could greatly improve smartphone navigationMIT researchers have developed the first molecular clock on a chip, which uses the constant, measurable rotation of molecules - when exposed to a certain frequency of electromagnetic radiation - to keep time. The chip could one day significantly improve the accuracy and performance of navigation on smartphones and other consumer devices.

Finding the pulse of the polar vortexA new analysis of how air moves between two layers of Earth's atmosphere reveals a deep system that could enable long-term weather forecasts and better climate models.

Team Wins Data-Driven Scavenger Hunt for Simulated Nuclear MaterialsCompeting in a fictitious high-stakes scenario, a group of scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) bested two dozen other teams in a months-long, data-driven scavenger hunt for simulated radioactive materials in a virtual urban environment. The goal of this hackathon-styled event was both to improve the detection methods that could be applied to actual threats involving nuclear materials, and to create a platform to virtually vet out these methods.

"move" through to the next roundAround two years ago, Empa opened "move", the demonstrator for the mobility of the future, with a view to revealing various paths for mobility with renewable energy.

Physics - Astronomy / Space Science - 21.06.2018

Through the heat barrierESA Space in Images ESA's next CubeSat mission seen enduring the scorching heat of simulated atmospheric reentry inside the world's largest plasma wind tunnel. Equipped with a cork-based heatshield, titanium side walls and silicon carbide deployable panels, the QARMAN (QubeSat for Aerothermodynamic Research and Measurements on Ablation) CubeSat survived six and a half minutes of testing inside Italy's Scirocco Plasma Wind Tunnel.

Life Sciences - Physics - 21.06.2018

High-powered microscopy coming to a scientist near youThis video shows 24 hours of growth of a zebrafish captured by light sheet microscopy. Video by Jiaye "Henry” He, of the Morgridge Institute for Research, and Liz M. Haynes, postdoctoral fellow in Integrative Biology. Modern microscopy has given scientists a front-row seat to living, breathing biology in all its Technicolor glory.

"Artificial blubber" protects divers in frigid waterWhen Navy SEALs carry out dives in Arctic waters, or when rescue teams are diving under ice-covered rivers or ponds, the survival time even in the best wetsuits is very limited - as little as tens of minutes, and the experience can be extremely painful at best.

Method manBack in 1988, voters in California passed Proposition 99, a measure that raised cigarette taxes and placed other restrictions on cigarette sales.

Physics - Chemistry - 15.06.2018

Squeezing light at the nanoscaleResearchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a new technique to squeeze infrared light into ultra-confined spaces, generating an intense, nanoscale antenna that could be used to detect single biomolecules.

Within 10 years, a high-luminosity LHC at CERNA new site opened on Friday, June 15, 2018, at the LHC, the Large Hadron Collider. Begun in 2011, this project aims to commission a high-luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) by 2026 that will increase the number of proton-proton collisions and gather more data.

Chemistry - Physics - 14.06.2018

TNT could be headed for retirement after 116 years on the jobScientists have developed a novel "melt-cast" explosive material that could be a suitable replacement for Trinitrotoluene, more commonly known as TNT. One major challenge was coming up with a formula that would significantly surpass the explosive energy of TNT, but still have melt-casting capability.

Exact Optical Frequencies on DemandIn 2014, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched the Direct On-Chip Digital Optical Synthesizer (DODOS) program, with the goal of finding a way to synthesize optical frequencies with the same exactness as radio and microwave frequencies.